Title: Venom, Book 1 in The Secrets of the Eternal Rose series
Author: Fiona Paul
Publisher: Harper Collins
Genre: Young Adult, Historical, Romance, Mystery
Links: Book Depository
Blurb:
Cassandra is part of Venice’s wealthy elite. Her world is one of fabulous gowns, masquerade balls and privilege, yet she longs for something more. While her fiancé is away in Paris, she has a chance meeting with an artist called Falco. He is attractive, audacious… and highly unsuitable.
When Cass stumbles upon the body of a murdered woman – with a bloody X carved across her heart – she’s drawn into a dangerous world of secret societies, courtesans and killers. Falco is quick to offer his assistance, but then Cass starts receiving death threats… Is Falco more involved than she imagined? And will she stay true to her fiancé, or succumb to her uncontrollable feelings for someone she’s not even sure she can trust?
Why I Picked it Up:
I stumbled across this book in my local Big W and liked the look of the cover and the blurb. I’ve been to Venice before so I thought the setting might be interesting. Plus it’s something a little different to what I usually read and the reviews on GoodReads looked okay, so I bought it.
What I liked about it:
I liked Cass. I thought she was spunky and likeable without being too out of character for the time. And speaking of the time, I liked the setting of historical Venice. Some of the chapters were creepy – the author is quite good at the “scary” factor.
What I didn’t like about it:
It was long. Over 400 pages and drawn out in places. I like my novels fast paced so when an author takes 10 pages to get their character out of bed and into town, I start to get a little impatient. A lot of the descriptions were repetitive. Cass must have rode in about ten thousand gondola’s. The writing style never really grabbed me or sucked me in. I didn’t feel Cass’s passion for Falco, which sucked because the setting could have made it a pretty epic love story.
My Verdict: 2.5 stars.
What book did you just finish? Would you recommend it?
Words Read & Written 
A recent re-read, which is probably an unfair discussion because it is one of my favourite stories of all-time, was “The Blue Castle” by L.M. Montgomery. Most people know her for the “Anne of Green Gables” series, but she actually wrote a few excellent adult novels in addition to her children’s stories.
“The Blue Castle” certainly doesn’t hesitate to separate itself from her younger stories as it deals with parental abuse, out-of-wedlock pregnancy, terminal illness, and alcoholism amongst other topics.
It is also one of the most unabashedly uplifting stories I’ve ever read.
This book was one of the stories that helped to shape who I became as a person and I still gain new things every time I read it.
Highly recommended. For those of you who’d like to read it, but can’t or don’t wish to track down a physical copy, it is also available on Project Gutenberg (it’s now in the public domain).
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I’ll add it to my to-be-read pile 🙂
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A recent re-read, which is probably an unfair discussion because it is one of my favourite stories of all-time, was “The Blue Castle” by L.M. Montgomery. Most people know her for the “Anne of Green Gables” series, but she actually wrote a few excellent adult novels in addition to her children’s stories.
“The Blue Castle” certainly doesn’t hesitate to separate itself from her younger stories as it deals with parental abuse, out-of-wedlock pregnancy, terminal illness, and alcoholism amongst other topics.
It is also one of the most unabashedly uplifting stories I’ve ever read.
This book was one of the stories that helped to shape who I became as a person and I still gain new things every time I read it.
Highly recommended. For those of you who’d like to read it, but can’t or don’t wish to track down a physical copy, it is also available on Project Gutenberg (it’s now in the public domain).
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I’ll add it to my to-be-read pile 🙂
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Reblogged this on Sophie's blog….
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Reblogged this on Sophie's blog….
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I read Venom last year – I loved the book cover and the blurb, which made me borrow the book from my local library. I liked how some of the chapters had a freaky kind of feeling about them, and I agree with you, most of the book was really dragged out, and you just wanted for her character to do whatever she had to do, but, that always took such a long time for that to happen! I actually read the second book last year also, I can’t remember it too well, but, I think I may have liked it? Haha, I don’t know 🙂
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It’s weird how some books stay with you and others disappear.
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I read Venom last year – I loved the book cover and the blurb, which made me borrow the book from my local library. I liked how some of the chapters had a freaky kind of feeling about them, and I agree with you, most of the book was really dragged out, and you just wanted for her character to do whatever she had to do, but, that always took such a long time for that to happen! I actually read the second book last year also, I can’t remember it too well, but, I think I may have liked it? Haha, I don’t know 🙂
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It’s weird how some books stay with you and others disappear.
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I just finished the Fallen Series by Lauren Kate.
The series had been on my TBR list for awhile and the kiddo loved it. I have to say, I enjoyed it a LOT. My verdict on that series: a 4.3.
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I think I read the first one when it came out. Then never got around to reading the rest. Now days I generally wait until the whole series is out before starting it. Much easier 🙂
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It is so frustrating to be reading through a series only to be halted by not having the final book available.
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I just finished the Fallen Series by Lauren Kate.
The series had been on my TBR list for awhile and the kiddo loved it. I have to say, I enjoyed it a LOT. My verdict on that series: a 4.3.
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I think I read the first one when it came out. Then never got around to reading the rest. Now days I generally wait until the whole series is out before starting it. Much easier 🙂
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It is so frustrating to be reading through a series only to be halted by not having the final book available.
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I kind of felt like Falco was really creepy at times. I love love loved the cover and the setting but I was disappointed in how much I didn’t care about the story haha
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It was exactly like that! The writing never grabbed me. All this crazy stuff was happening and I was just like, meh.
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I kind of felt like Falco was really creepy at times. I love love loved the cover and the setting but I was disappointed in how much I didn’t care about the story haha
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It was exactly like that! The writing never grabbed me. All this crazy stuff was happening and I was just like, meh.
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Agree. I felt like the beginning and middle were too long and heavy and drawn out, and the end was rushed. Go figure!
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True. I can understand it being a little more wordy considering it’s historical, but it was very long.
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Agree. I felt like the beginning and middle were too long and heavy and drawn out, and the end was rushed. Go figure!
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True. I can understand it being a little more wordy considering it’s historical, but it was very long.
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Goes to show how important cover art is!
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Goes to show how important cover art is!
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Great honest review 🙂
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Great honest review 🙂
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Love the cover–I am always drawn to books by their covers, which sometimes can be misleading :). However, it is always great to get a review to accompany it before buying based on the cover alone. Thanks Jodie!
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Love the cover–I am always drawn to books by their covers, which sometimes can be misleading :). However, it is always great to get a review to accompany it before buying based on the cover alone. Thanks Jodie!
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The visible mam by kurt klosterman. It was very good. It read almost as non fiction but was most definitely fiction. Check it out. Btw good review even if you did not like the book . What is next for you ?
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I’m currently reading Indelible by Dawn Metcalf
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The visible mam by kurt klosterman. It was very good. It read almost as non fiction but was most definitely fiction. Check it out. Btw good review even if you did not like the book . What is next for you ?
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I’m currently reading Indelible by Dawn Metcalf
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Cool I have never heard of that book or author will have to check it out. I am reading Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut.
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